The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from abortion opponents in Southern California who were ordered to pay legal fees to Planned Parenthood after they unsuccessfully sued the family-planning group to require it to declare a link between abortion and breast cancer.

The suit was dismissed in 2002 by a San Diego judge who rejected the plaintiffs' claim that a connection between abortion and cancer was scientifically established. The three plaintiffs were ordered to pay the organization $130,000 to cover legal fees under a state law that provides attorneys' fees to targets of merit-less suits that seek to thwart free expression.

After unsuccessful appeals in state courts, the plaintiffs sought review in the nation's high court, which turned them down without comment. The appeal contended the fees required by the California law were an unconstitutional penalty against private citizens for exercising their right to sue on matters of public interest.

"This has resulted in a grave injustice, that three women of modest means who filed a lawsuit on behalf of the general public, to make sure women receive truthful and accurate information about the link between abortion and breast cancer, can be penalized for that effort," said attorney Patrick Gillen of the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan, which represented the plaintiffs.

James McElroy, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, said the lawsuit was "part of an ongoing battle waged by the religious right against Planned Parenthood." He said the state law doesn't prohibit the plaintiffs from expressing their opinion or going to court, but requires them to cover the costs of a suit that tried to suppress Planned Parenthood's views on the subject.

The suit, filed in 2001, accused Planned Parenthood's national organization and San Diego chapter of false advertising on its Web site, and sought to require it to warn women that an abortion increased their risk of breast cancer.

The Web site described abortion as generally safer than childbirth. It said the claim that abortion causes breast cancer has not been borne out by research at the American Cancer Society and other institutions. The Web site also cited studies to the contrary but said their main promoters were opponents of abortion..